Asked if he would call on Sen. Stevens to either pledge to run in the general election or bow out before the primary, Cuddy said: “I don’t want to presume to tell Ted what to do. There’s so much going on. … I can’t even begin to presume what he needs to do to put himself in the best bargaining position [legally].”

Ted’s buddy David Dittman has a truly hilarious take on the situation:

“Uncle Ted, he frankly doesn’t have a dishonest bone in his body,” Dittman said. “It’s the appearance that’s so damning. The last thing he would do is to behave improperly.”

Dittman went on to hypothesize that the suspected corruption, in which Stevens is accused of receiving a preferable rate on a home renovations from a business that he also lobbied for in the Senate, was more innocent than it may appear.

“If someone asked me to watch their yard while they’re out of town, and I happened to notice their grass was growing too long and I cut it — say they came back and brought me a pie. I wouldn’t turn it down, and I wouldn’t say that I [did the favor] in order to get that reward. I think in this case, the [company] doing renovations on the Senator’s house simply appreciated what he’s done for Alaska, and decided to surprise him and do something for him. [Maybe] they put in a refrigerator. … At the time, it was probably much more innocent. … Knowing the Senator, that’s just the way I see it.”

Yeah, that’s right – VECO just installed a $250,000 refrigerator solely out of gratitude for Ted’s service to Alaska, just like you would bake a pie for a neighbor who mowed your lawn. I’m sure that’s it.

Is it any wonder the GOP is awash in corruption? They can excuse or explain away anything.